nest

What happens when your smart home devices receive a bad update that make them not-so-smart anymore? Many Nest owners are finding out the answer to that exact question this week. Users have reported a variety of issues suddenly occurring, from dead devices to overworked heating systems.

Securifi is a company that makes the cool Almond+ and Almond 2015 routers. Those routers have been updated to support Nest products. Say the word Nest and we immediately think of the Nest thermostat, but Nest has other products to its name like the Protect smoke alarm and Cam security camera. Nest integration adds another layer of control for the router that already has integration for Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Phillips Hue devices.

Is your Nest Cam watching you when you thought it was turned off? The WiFi streaming camera has found itself at the center of a security maelstrom this week, after research questioned just what was happening when the indicator light shuts off. Turns out, as with the Internet of Things in general, it's complicated.

Nest created the smart thermostat market, and now it's under attack. Turns out the appeal of home temperature control without requiring programming more complex than a graduate degree, and more flexible than "on" or "off", is enough to lure in not only customers but competitors. After granular improvements since the 2011 launch, Nest's third-generation hardware bumps up the most eye-catching aspect of the thermostat: the display.

The smart home generally gets a lot more useful the more it's connected, and now Nest Cam buyers can get three of the streaming cameras in a new bundle. Set to go on sale this weekend, the new Nest package consists of a trio of the WiFi-enabled security cameras for $497.

Nest is expanding its "Works with Nest" smart home platform, offering third-party device manufacturers access to the Weave wireless used in its own thermostat. Its APIs already used by over 11,000 developers, Works with Nest is now looking to broaden its net to devices that may so far have fallen outside of the automation portfolio: gadgets that run on batteries, for instance, or which have humble processors.

Yale is diving into the connected lock space, and it's so confident in its new smart security gadget it's named it after the company founder. The Yale Linus lock owes its title to Linus Yale Jr. who established the firm in 1843 after inventing the cylinder pin-tumbler mechanism, but while the name may be a nod to history, the technology is bang up to date.

Just when you'd learned to love that nosey "learning thermostat" on the wall, watching as you and your family went about your day, here's Nest with a new model. Nest v.3, announced earlier today, promises much the same as its predecessors, with intelligent understanding of when people are home and when they're away. Question is, should existing owners be thinking about upgrading?

The third generation Nest Learning Thermostat has been revealed with a new physical design and Farsight. So-called for its ability to see further than previous Nest devices, Farsight is a feature that "takes advantage of the new high-res screen", allowing users to glimpse information on the thermostat from distances much further than the previous 3-foot requirement. This new Nest will be made available today at a variety of online retailers.

Apple has offered the Nest thermostat on its virtual store shelves and in some of its retail locations for three years now. The Nest thermostat first landed on the Apple Store online back in May of 2012. Apple has removed the Nest thermostat from its online store, at least for now. The ouster comes as a new spat of Apple HomeKit products have reached the store and it appears Apple prefers to focus on those items.

This afternoon Google suggested that three of their earlier stage products were under "tight governance." These products were Fiber, Google Life Sciences, and Nest - all products which the company suggested weren't about to be big cash sources for the company any time soon. Meanwhile Google's confidence in mobile was unabated - this Android-based part of their company was doing extraordinarily well, so said both Ruth Porat, Chief Financial Officer for the company, and Omid Kordestani, Chief Business Officer for the company.

Last month Nest unveiled a couple new and updated products in the US including a revised Protect smoke alarm and a new wireless Nest Cam security camera. Fans of Nest gear in the UK who have wanted to get the new products into their homes can now do so. Nest has launched both the Nest Cam and the revised Protect smoke alarm in the UK.